Chicago crime rates

The crime rate in Chicago is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America from the largest to the smallest, although at 45 crimes per one thousand residents, it is not among the communities with the very highest crime rate. The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Chicago is 1 in 22. Based on FBI crime data, Chicago is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to Illinois, Chicago has a crime rate that is higher than 95% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.

Importantly, when you compare Chicago to other communities of similar population, then Chicago crime rate (violent and property crimes combined) is quite a bit higher than average. Regardless of how Chicago does relative to all communities in America of all sizes, when NeighborhoodScout compared it to communities of similar population size, its crime rate per thousand residents stands out as higher than most.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Chicago does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Chicago.

For Chicago, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Chicago is one in 111.

Significantly, based on the number of murders reported by the FBI and the number of residents living in the city, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that Chicago experiences one of the higher murder rates in the nation when compared with cities and towns for all sizes of population, from the largest to the smallest.

NeighborhoodScout's analysis also reveals that Chicago's rate for property crime is 36 per one thousand population. This makes Chicago a place where there is an above average chance of becoming a victim of a property crime, when compared to all other communities in America of all population sizes. Property crimes are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. Your chance of becoming a victim of any of these crimes in Chicago is one in 28.

Importantly, we found that Chicago has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Chicago is one in 215.